Voting
Before the introduction of the current voting system in 1999, a group of regional or age-based juries decided the winner of Melodifestivalen. In 1993, televoting was used experimentally, but proved unsuccessful. The Swedish telephone network collapsed due to the number of calls, and claims by the Swedish tabloid press suggested the use of televoting had drastically altered the results. Evening newspapers released what they claimed to be the back-up juries' votes, which showed that the winner, Arvingarna's "Eloise", would have finished fourth had the juries' votes counted. SVT never confirmed the accuracy of these claims.
The current voting format is a positional voting system similar to that used at the Eurovision Song Contest. 11 international juries each award 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 points to their top seven songs, the eleven juries account for 50% of the total score. Televotes account for the remaining 50%; The value of the votes was 2 x 473 points, which meant that tele-votes and jury-votes represent 50/50 each. If an entry is getting 10% of the tele-votes it will be equivalent to 10% of 473 points. The song with the highest number of points at the end of the voting is the winner.
Telephone lines open immediately after the radio preview for the final and do not close until the juries have voted. Two telephone numbers are used for each song, giving voters the option of whether to donate money to SVT's Radiohjälpen charity appeal or not as they vote. Viewers can also vote by text message, and only residents of Sweden can vote.
The votes of the juries are announced by spokespeople who are not members of the juries. The votes are read in ascending order, beginning with one point and finishing with twelve. When read, they are repeated by the host, for example:
Spokesperson: "Ett poäng till melodi nummer två." (One point to melody number two.)
Presenter: "Melodi nummer två får ett poäng." (Melody number two gets one point.)
As the votes are announced, they are collated on a graphic scoreboard. SVT varies the way the jury votes are announced from year to year. For example, the finalists of Expedition: Robinson acted as spokespeople in 2004, and in 2006 Fredrik Lindström announced jury tallies using the dialects of each region. The televoting results are announced by the hosts in ascending order. The final of Melodifestivalen has broken Nordic voting records on several occasions; in 2007, voting figures exceeded two million for the first time.
If there is a tie, the song that has received more votes from the public receives the higher position. There have been two ties for first place in the history of the contest. In 1969, Tommy Körberg tied for first place with Jan Malmsjö. The juries them voted for their favourite out the two, leading to Tommy Körberg winning. In 1978, Björn Skifs tied for first place with Lasse Holm, Kikki Danielsson and Wizex (performing together); a similar tie-break process resulting in Skifs winning.
Read more about this topic: Melodifestivalen
Famous quotes containing the word voting:
“Even voting for the right is doing nothing for it. It is only expressing feebly your desire that it should prevail. A wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of chance, nor wish it to prevail through the power of the majority.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“It’s not the voting that’s democracy, it’s the counting.”
—Tom Stoppard (b. 1937)
“All voting is a sort of gaming, like checkers or backgammon, with a slight moral tinge to it, a playing with right and wrong, with moral questions; and betting naturally accompanies it. The character of the voters is not staked. I cast my vote, perchance, as I think right; but I am not vitally concerned that right should prevail. I am willing to leave it to the majority.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)